The hand tool debate rages on......

Re: The hand tool debate rages on......

Thomas Skaggs, Foothills of Mount Level

I have long ceased debating about tools. It's much like walking into a country bar and debating brands of pickup trucks. But when I became a professional woodworker it occurred to me that philosophy didn't pay the bills. Which tool to use for the next task? Hand tool or electric? The answer in my shop is whichever gets the job done accurately and efficiently. Sometimes it's a power tool and sometimes it's a hand tool.

In the end, the customers who buy my work have no idea what tools I used and I have found that they don't really care.

T.

Re: The hand tool debate rages on......

Hank Knight

Bill, I couldn't agree more. I'm not a hand tool purist but I do rely on hand tools for a lot of tasks. I am not interested in getting hot and sweaty dimensioning rough stock with hand tools. I have machines for that. But when it comes to close fitting and finishing surfaces, hand tools beat machines hands down. I can't imagine shaving .001" from, a joint with my table saw or my jointer. But it's snap with a plane. Tuning mortise and tenon joints is grist for the hand tool mill, but not for power tools. By the time I set up my Leigh dovetail jig and consult the instruction manual, I could have cut a dozen dovetails with a saw and a chisel. I'm not about to give up my machines, but I'm not about to give up my hand tools either.

Re: The hand tool debate rages on......

Don Stephan

My contention would be that production woodworking today wants (needs?) to require the least amount of skill and training to minimize the dependence on skilled employees. Is it possible that the school and the article author are addressing opposite ends of commercial woodworking?

Re: The hand tool debate rages on......

John in NM

This reminds me of a process I have to do now and then, cutting small round grooves in a part I make & sell for rifles - copying an old surplus part. They are kind of like flutes on a spindle, but with vent holes between each groove.

I've used a milling machine & a Legacy mill, and its always difficult at least. Lots of set up, never get the radial angle just right, never quite deep enough at one end without being too deep at the other, etc.

Sunday I was at that point in a custom project, and debating bringing it in to use a mill at work, but instead picked up a tiny round carving chisel and figured I'd give it a try. Best results I ever achieved, and the ~hour it took was probably about as much as all the set up, fussing, recutting, etc I've had to do with machines. Its so much simpler to just guide the chisel carefully than to be sure of all the alignment before starting a cut on a mill.

Re: The hand tool debate rages on......

Hank Knight

I think we've been on that track for awhile. Go to Ikea to see the results.

Power tools are the Devil's work!

Derek Cohen (in Perth, Australia)

There are always going to be extremists. Or those that state there is only one way to do something, such as, the "old way" is the only way. Or that the old way is no longer relevant.

It is like looking at the world through the wrong end of a telescope.

Regards from Perth

Derek

Re: Power tools are the Devil's work!

Larry Clinton At Frankfort, (Central) Indiana

I remember back in the late 1940's when a local very proficient carpenter / furniture builder worked on my folks house.

He had just acquired an electric hand saw prior to doing the remodel. I had seen him work on other occasions, as we were in a small town and I was interested at my young age of 8 or 9 at the time. He had excellent hand saws, both rip and crosscut and could rip an 8' oak board perfectly within a few thousands.

Once he purchased the power saw I think the hand saws probably got a little rusty as he rarely used them again!

I really try to keep all my tailed tools in as perfect alignment as possible and do as little hand tool work as is necessary.

I am quite certain most people today can not compare with the hand tool skill level of the carpenters of yore as they spent years in apprenticeship and the only tools available were hand tools.

Yeah, I have a fine dovetail saw and can make one by hand if I have to, but if I have several to do I will set up my Leigh jig.

I also have a set of Lie-Nielsen chisels as well as several others used for rough work. I did not get serious about furniture / cabinet work until I was nearing retirement, prior to that I did quite a bit of carpentry but little precision work. I knew then that I didn't have enough time left on earth to learn all the hand tool skills.

I think each of us has to determine what works for us. Some may be perfectly happy using only hand tools and taking weeks to finish a project. Others may work almost entirely using power tools. Most end up using a combo that suits their skill level and the results that satisfy them.

The best job....

Mark Hennebury

In the most efficient way.

Otherwise its not about the work, but the worker.

well put

Re: The hand tool debate rages on......

Barry Irby

This has brought up something I have been trying to figure out for a long time and that is value. Is the piece of furniture or whatever worth more because you made it with hand tools? Does it add value if you hand plane a board or hand chop a mortise?

value and quality....

Mark Hennebury

are two completely different things.

Quality is measurable.

Value is a moving scale based on popularity, trends, fashion, marketing.

A mortise is a hole, either its clean and precise or it isn't.

A surface is either smooth and crisp, or it isn't.

Furniture is either well built or it isn't.

It makes no difference to the furniture how the mortise got there, only how good of a mortise it is.

All the rest is BS, which is the main ingredient of marketing and to perceived quality, which is what determines value.

Made me look it up . . .

Bob Lang

I hadn't yet read the issue, but went and checked it out. I didn't find it too curmudgeonly or anti-hand tool. I think his point is that romanticizing the use of hand tools shouldn't be a part of making a living making stuff out of wood, although there are times when the best or fastest way to accomplish a task is the use of a hand tool. Anyone earning a living making quality stuff knows this.

When I was learning the trade in the 1970s & 1980s a skilled cabinetmaker was expected to be adept at both machine setup and use and hand work. The skill is in the judgment of what tool to use to get the nicest work out the door as soon as possible in any given situation. There was no question or debate about moral or mental superiority of either method.

But the debate does sell books, magazines and generates web site traffic.

Bob Lang

David Pye would approve

Ellis Walentine

The workmanship of risk trumps the workmanship of certainty -- not always, depending on the design problem. It has the added dimension of personal satisfaction. Beautiful work, by the way.

Ellis